Hung Long (Hung Nguyen): Escaping poverty from bamboo and rattan weaving
No one knows when the weaving profession appeared in Hung Long commune (Hung Nguyen), but it is known that Hung Long has been famous for its weaving profession since ancient times.
Among them, hamlet 12 is considered the craft village with the longest tradition. Hung Long people consider the rice fields as close friends, working hard all year round, and on their free days they work together to make familiar products such as trays, winnowing baskets, trays, and crates to sell at rural markets in the district and province. This place used to be the headquarters of a famous cooperative for its rattan and bamboo weaving craft exported to the former Soviet Union market.
And this traditional craft has ensured the livelihood of many generations in this rural area. Families such as Nguyen Van Cong, Le Van Thoi, Nguyen Dinh Loc, Nguyen Quoc Phuong, Nguyen Thi Cu... are considered the families that have been doing this traditional craft for the longest time. They have quickly escaped poverty and also become rich from this traditional weaving craft.
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Products of Hung Long weaving village. |
Mr. Hoang Nghia Nhan - Vice Chairman of Hung Long Commune People's Committee said: Previously, people only wove bamboo baskets, baskets... to sell in Vinh City and neighboring areas. But consumers are now not very interested in bamboo baskets and trays and have switched to using plastic and aluminum products.
Therefore, to restore the craft village, the commune has opened a training class on bamboo and rattan weaving, creating conditions for households to borrow capital to develop and expand the weaving profession with products that meet consumer tastes. In addition, the locality has also actively sought outlets for products, linking with businesses to purchase products for the people.
Currently, the weaving profession is still maintained and developed strongly, attracting 400 workers to participate. The average income per day is 40 thousand VND/worker. Thanks to this profession, many households have escaped poverty.
In Hung Long, hamlet 12 is the most developed in this profession. Being a hamlet outside the dike, people suffer from many natural disasters and floods every year, so the weaving profession is chosen by the people as a sustainable way to escape poverty. In the past 3 years, according to market demand, the hamlet has developed many more handicraft products such as: flower baskets, flower baskets of all kinds, flower wreaths...
In fact, the income of workers is from 1 to 1.5 million VND/month. Weaving is a side job so it takes advantage of free time and labor resources in the family (from students to the elderly can participate). Ms. Phan Thi Thanh - a person who is attached to the weaving profession said: In addition to farming, weaving brings the main source of income for the family. Thanks to her good skills and hard-working nature, she also earns about 1.5 million VND/month. In the countryside, with such an income, it is also enough to be able to confidently invest in children's education.
Visiting the bamboo and rattan weaving facilities of Hoang Minh Khanh and Nguyen Thi Yen (Hamlet 12) at the end of the year, one can see the urgent and bustling working atmosphere: everyone is rushing to complete batches of goods to deliver to customers on time.
Realizing that if they only stopped at simple products, it would be difficult to reach the demanding consumer market, Mr. Khanh and his wife decided to visit some handicraft production facilities in the North to both learn from experience and approach the way of doing business according to market mechanisms.
After having enough potential and orders, Mr. Khanh and Ms. Yen boldly opened a production facility and improved the quality, bringing the products to the market outside the province. Currently, their production facility has 5 main workers with an average salary of over 1.5 million VND/worker/month.
Flower pots, flower baskets, decorative lamp stands... in Hung Long craft village have now gone beyond the province to the Northern and Central provinces.
Mr. Hoang Manh Hung - head of hamlet 12, Hung Long commune, affirmed: As a hamlet with 1/4 of the population following Catholicism, in recent times, thanks to the restoration and development of traditional crafts, the economic, cultural and social life of the people has increasingly improved.
In particular, the rate of students passing university, college and vocational schools in the hamlet is increasing. Social evils have decreased significantly, the village roads and alleys are clean and beautiful. However, in order for the craft village to develop steadily, Hung Long really needs the attention of the commune, especially the direction of Hung Nguyen district in expanding to become a craft village in the near future.
Thanh Thuy
